May 29, 2015

Swedish duo D.Å.R.F.D.H.S., the full name of which is enough to twist this poor English speaking lad’s tongue, has been pouring forth a steady stream of spooky ambient electronic music for a while now, with releases arriving on labels such as Opal Tapes, Clan Destine, and Field. Samarbeten is a new...

May 29, 2015

I don’t know what I could rightly expect of a demo reel from an artist as varied as Bob Bucko Jr., so I’m a little surprised that “consistent” is the adjective that materializes top-o’-the-mind for his The History of Western Music CD-R on Iowa’s Nova Labs imprint....

May 28, 2015

French label Cheap Trash Tapes released a new Kit Wharton cassette earlier this month, complete with captivating artwork by Andy Hall. Comprised of two EPs (one new and one from last year), High, Nice to Meet You provides a look at the Brighton-based duo’s origins and how they’ve refined...

May 27, 2015

For me, Baba Vanga came swiftly and suddenly into frame late last summer with Laura Luna‘s intoxicating Isolarios cassette, a thoroughly hypnotic traipse of grim immersion from which I couldn’t quite pull myself away. Since then, the Prague-based imprint has issued beautifully fried sets...

May 26, 2015

Eiderdown’s new Kambang Adzan cassette appears straight forward enough, a field recording with only a single track of sounds caught by a stationary recorder while Jeff Milano headed off into his then home of Bandung, in West Java. The single track is titled “Floating Call to Prayer,”...

May 25, 2015

Growing up in England’s proverbially dreary north left its mark on now Liverpool-based trio Bad Meds, an impression in evidence across their impressive self-titled debut — out tomorrow on Bologna’s Maple Death Records. The 5 track EP showcases their range as a punk band without a shred...

May 23, 2015

I can hardly imagine a better way to open this week’s review than with Sean Stellfox and Tabs Out’s inspiring 17-minute Cassette Culture in Central Java documentary, produced by the former during and after a teaching fellowship in Yogyakarta. The video highlights a slew of imprints in a...

May 22, 2015

Cornetist Stephen Haynes is set to release his first New Atlantis effort, Pomegranate, leading a jazz quartet of creative supporters that plays with rhythm to celebrate the life of Bill Dixon. “Mangui Fii Reek (I am Still Here)” represents one of the strongest combinations of whimsy and...

May 21, 2015

Ptaki is a duo comprised of two Polish producers — Bartosz Kruczyński, aka The Phantom, whom I had the pleasure of interviewing for Decoder last October, and Jaromir Kamiński, aka Funkoff — an acclaimed crate digger and music journalist. Both are longtime friends but generally focused...

May 20, 2015

Yowza! If you prefer to take your jazz as a well-blended genre-bending energy drink then this sly tape from Manikr is for you. The atomic make-up of this crew has their collective electrons orbiting askew, leaping from near-fusion as filtered through an elektronische lens to pure electronic dissonance...

May 18, 2015

Returning for a second round of ACI_Edits, Aught, our favorite anonymous, translucent cassette imprint, continues its run of muted hedonism and abstracted techno. Yet where past Aughts have reveled in murky, mired pools of bleak bliss, this tape errs on the side of casual vibrancy, expansive minimalism,...

May 16, 2015

“While this is listed as #58 of the FFFoxy Podcast show, if you have been following us for over the past 4½ years and through a few different name changes, you may know that we’ve done several more shows than that. In fact, this is actually the 100th episode of the podcast series that we have...

May 15, 2015

When played loudly enough, My Mind Beats Vol. 1 is one of the most truly psychedelic cassettes I’ve heard recently. Though producer DJ Fultono makes footwork with a minimalist’s palette of loops and shifting tones, it’s the gradual cycling of rhythms that risks upending your sense...

May 14, 2015

If you’re looking for some dark and dancey tunes for the summer, Euth Coast Records is a new label that offers your particular brand of medicine. The label’s first step features a return of Tim Perry (previously of Weed Diamond), this time under the Terrain is Blank moniker. Joining Perry...

May 14, 2015

“Last year David Loca (of Part Time) went on a journey to spend the summer with the hobbits of Berkshire. While there, he made many friends and took pleasure within the tiny village among the rolling green hills. Once some of the hobbits learned of his musical past they asked him to play with...

May 12, 2015

It’s been a few years since Kansas City’s Discoverer dropped his Digitalis full length and made me aware that there were dudes getting press from this cultural iffyland. Here it is, after all this time of judging the homeland / probably living fifteen minutes away from this dude TOPS, and...

May 11, 2015

Karl Fousek emerged last year as a notable newcomer working in the experimental electronics field, with gorgeous tapes on Phinery and Adhesive-Sounds. The Montrealer now returns with Pattern Variation, a new tape of tone and pattern studies released in-tandem with Demonstration Synthesis’ DS17....

May 9, 2015

This week’s review is a bit light/heavy because as some of you may know, Decoder’s reviews editor Steve Dewhurst is preparing for surgery… and there’s not so much more one can say about that, except Dwight’s going to be filling in as best he can for the duration. So feel...

May 8, 2015

Russell E. L. Butler recently stepped further out of his wonderfully left-field synth-pop project Black Jeans for a new release under his own name; titled God is Change, it arrived mid-April via Opal Tapes, a little less than a year after the longer and more lo-fi Constructions cassette that he self-released...